Election Results System - Help

Updated 6 Jan 2015

This page is intended as a guide to interpreting the election results tables.

About the statistics

Percentages

Votes for parties, groups and candidates are always expressed as a percentage of the total formal vote in the same column.

Formal and informal votes are always expressed as a percentage of the total votes in the same column.

Total ordinary, postal, pre-poll and declaration votes for an electorate are expressed as a percentage of the total votes for the electorate.

Total ordinary, postal, pre-poll and declaration votes for the ACT are expressed as a percentage of the total votes for the ACT.

Total votes for each polling place are expressed as a percentage of the total votes for the electorate.

Total votes for an electorate are expressed as a percentage of the enrolment for the electorate.

Total votes for the ACT are expressed as a percentage of the enrolment for the ACT.

The voting process

Ordinary polling places

An ordinary vote is a vote cast on election day by an elector enrolled for any electorate at any polling place within the Australian Capital Territory.

"Home and away" votes

Unlike Commonwealth elections, an elector could cast an ordinary vote in a polling place in an electorate other than the electorate the elector was enrolled for. In other words, an elector could cast an ordinary vote in his or her 'home' electorate, or if they were not in their 'home' electorate, cast an ordinary vote in an 'away' electorate.

Electronic votes

For this election, the five pre-poll voting centres issued votes electronically. These votes are included in the total votes for each of these polling places.

Pre-poll votes

A pre-poll vote is a vote cast by an elector who is unable to attend a polling place within the ACT on election day. Pre-poll votes must be made in person and can be cast from three weeks prior to election day until the day before polling day at any pre-poll voting centre in the ACT. These polling places are identified by the inclusion of "Pre-Poll" next to their name.

Central scrutiny

To preserve the secrecy of the ballot, under the Electoral Act 1992 any ballot papers counted for an electorate that totalled fewer than 20 at a polling place could not be sorted to candidates at that polling place. Instead, they are taken unsorted to the central scrutiny centre where they are combined with other ballot papers before they are sorted. In these cases, the statistics record that no votes were counted at those polling places for that electorate.

These combined ballot papers are shown for each electorate under a polling place entitled "Central Scrutiny".

Similarly, at an electronic polling place, if there were fewer than 20 electronic votes cast for an electorate, these were also included in the central scrutiny. If an electronic polling place took more than 20 electronic votes and fewer than 20 paper votes, the electronic votes are included under the polling place and the paper votes are included in the central scrutiny (and vice versa). If an electronic polling place took fewer than 20 paper votes and fewer than 20 electronic votes, these are all included in the central scrutiny, even though they may add to more than 20 for that polling place.

Declaration votes

A declaration vote is a vote cast at a polling place or pre-poll voting centre by an elector whose name:

  • is incorrectly marked on the roll in the polling place or pre-poll voting centre to indicate that the elector has already voted; or
  • cannot be found on the roll but the elector claims to be entitled to vote.

Where it is found that the elector's vote is entitled to be counted, these votes are included in the polling place called "declaration".

Interstate votes

An elector who is unable to attend a polling place within the ACT on election day may cast a vote from three weeks prior to election day until the day before polling day at the state electoral authority office in each interstate capital city. These votes are included in the "interstate" polling place.

Mobile polling

Mobile polling teams visit designated hospitals, nursing homes, remand centres and similar institutions during the five days preceding polling day and on polling day. Votes taken by mobile polling teams visiting these institutions are shown under the "Mobiles" polling place.

Postal votes

A postal vote is a vote cast by an elector who is unable to attend a polling place within the ACT on election day. Postal votes can be cast at any time from the 19th day before polling day until polling day itself. As the name suggests, postal votes can be sent through the postal system. These are shown in the "postals" polling place.

More information

For more information see our frequently asked election questions page.